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How sure can you be that the font you specify will be present on the end user's machine? This is the latest snapshot of the of the Code Style Unix font survey and should give you greater confidence in selecting a font.
Subscribe to the news feed for these survey results: 
The most common Linux fonts
The most common font reported for Unix family systems are Matthew Carter's serif Bitstream Charter for X Windows and DejaVu Sans Mono, both at 89%. Nimbus Mono L and the cursive URW Chancery L follow close behind at 88% frequency. Century Schoolbook L completes the top 5 Linux fonts.
Survey statistics
These figures are the cumulative total of about 1 Linux survey submission per week since January 2004, 329 total. The average number of fonts reported per submission is 20 of the 40 included in the Unix font family survey sample.
| Font name | Installed (%) | Sample | Image | |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Bitstream Charter | 88.89% |
|
Sample | |
| DejaVu Sans Mono | 88.89% |
|
Sample | |
| Nimbus Mono L | 88.45% |
|
Sample | Image |
| URW Chancery L | 88.45% |
|
Sample | Image |
| Century Schoolbook L | 87.84% |
|
Sample | Image |
| URW Gothic L | 86.02% |
|
Sample | Image |
| URW Bookman L | 82.37% |
|
Sample | Image |
| URW Palladio L | 81.16% |
|
Sample | Image |
| Bitstream Vera Sans Mono | 80.12% |
|
Sample | Image |
| Bitstream Vera Sans | 77.98% |
|
Sample | Image |
| Nimbus Roman No9 L | 76.29% |
|
Sample | |
| Courier | 73.86% |
|
Sample | Image |
| Bitstream Vera Serif | 68.50% |
|
Sample | Image |
| DejaVu Sans Condensed | 66.67% |
|
Sample | |
| Utopia | 62.61% |
|
Sample | Image |
| Arial | 61.70% |
|
Sample | Image |
| Courier New | 61.70% |
|
Sample | |
| Nimbus Sans L | 57.89% |
|
Sample | |
| Helvetica | 56.84% |
|
Sample | Image |
| Times New Roman | 55.62% |
|
Sample | |
| DejaVu Serif Condensed | 55.56% |
|
Sample | |
| Liberation Mono | 55.56% |
|
Sample | |
| Liberation Sans | 55.56% |
|
Sample | |
| Liberation Serif | 55.56% |
|
Sample | |
| Verdana | 53.80% |
|
Sample | |
| Arial Black | 53.19% |
|
Sample | |
| Impact | 52.89% |
|
Sample | |
| DejaVu Sans | 52.63% |
|
Sample | |
| Georgia | 51.67% |
|
Sample | |
| Fixed | 51.37% |
|
Sample | Image |
| Comic Sans MS | 50.76% |
|
Sample | |
| Trebuchet MS | 49.54% |
|
Sample | |
| Andale Mono | 48.33% |
|
Sample | |
| Times | 47.72% |
|
Sample | |
| New Century Schoolbook | 45.90% |
|
Sample | |
| Nimbus Sans L Condensed | 44.44% |
|
Sample | |
| DejaVu Serif | 42.11% |
|
Sample | |
| FreeMono | 42.11% |
|
Sample | |
| FreeSans | 42.11% |
|
Sample | |
| FreeSerif | 42.11% |
|
Sample | |
Several of the lowest rank fonts have been removed from the current survey, but their reported frequency is recorded here for reference.
Quick links: Code Style font sampler
-
Windows font survey and survey results
-
Mac font survey and survey results
-
Unix family font survey and survey results
- Combined survey results for all platforms
- Classification by generic font family:
- Font family glossary
- Anchor Points: Font foundries & sources
- The font sampler stylesheet: Sampler.css
